Appendiceal Involvement in Ulcerative Colitis Histopathological Study Using Operative Specimen

To investigate the relationship between the appendiceal involvement and colitis, histopathological study using 48 operative specimens was performed. Three out of 48 patients had undergone appendectomy before the onset of the disease. The appendectomy rate among our patients was 6% , which was significantly lower than that in the normal population. From investigation using 41 specimens with appendices available, appendiceal involvement was noticed in 27 patients (66%). Their histological stages were active in 14, questions in 13, normal in 3, and atrophic in 11 patients. No relationships were found between the appendiceal involvement and the extent of colitis, nor between the appendiceal involvement and the severity of the disease. These results have indicated that appendiceal inflammation is independent of colitis. In all of the cases with active appendiceal involvement, however, presence or previous evidence of inflammation was observed. In conclusion, appendiceal involvement was seemed a change independently of the colitis. Skip lesion of the appendix in ulcerative colitis was identified in a cases (7%) in our series.